


The neighbour

by kitty90s



Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: Chernobyl (TV 2019) References, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:28:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23809156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitty90s/pseuds/kitty90s
Summary: a story about Valery Legasov and his cat
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	The neighbour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MariaLujan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MariaLujan/gifts).



> this is the first time I write something in english so have mercy. this story was a present for a friend that´s why the girl is called Maria

Maria was coming back from work, she just wanted to rest a bit after an exhausted day, being in front of a class of 20 students wasn’t an easy chore. Despite the stress she had she really enjoyed being a teacher. When she walked in the hall of the building she found a grey striped cat that was walking in circles trying to enter.  
“Hello little kitty. What are you doing here?” she asked as she picked it up “where did you come from?”  
While juggling between the cat and her suitcase, Maria entered and took the stairs to her apartment in the third floor, as it was an old building there wasn’t any elevator. At half of the way between the second and the third floor she ran into the weird neighbour from the apartment 3d, in the building everybody whispered about how weird he was, he hardly ever lefts his apartment and whenever he did it he never spoke with anyone. Sometimes he would walk in the square and sit alone in one of the benches, he just sat there and he watched people passing by.  
“oh you have found my cat” he said adjusting his glasses  
“Is it yours?” Maria replied a little bit disappointed since it had occurred to her to adopt him, she had wanted to have one for a long time “I found him walking around the front door, I must have realized that he lived here”  
“I don't know how he could escape and I ´ve just realise he wasn’t at home because I wanted to feed him I couldn't find him”  
“well here he is” she said hanging it to him  
“thank you miss… sorry but I don’t know your name”  
“My name is Maria”  
“I am Valery Legasov and This is Boris” he said looking at his cat  
“nice to meet you sir” she said and then looking at the cat she added “I hope you don't run away again”  
After that they both silently climbed the stairs to the next floor, before entering her home Maria took one last look at her neighbour. She had only crossed two words with him, but she had realized that Legasov was not the kind of man that the neighbours believed he was, he was just lonely, but despite that he was still a mystery and maybe that was why she felt attracted to him.   
“At last you arrive” said her mother “dinner is ready”  
“guess who I chatted with today” she said while washing her hands  
“Let me guess … I know with the owner of the store, he finally deigned to talk to you, I see the way he looks at you every time you go”  
“no “ she snorted “ I ran into Mr. Legasov”  
“what? With that weirdo” she said and crossed herself “don't talk to that man anymore they say a lot of things about him”

“They are just gossip, people has nothing better than inventing things” she answered “ I talked to him and he seems to be a good man”  
“he hides something that's why he lives locked up, I'm sure, now if you don't mind can we have dinner in peace?”  
From then on, every time she came across her neighbour from apartment 3d, which was not very common, Maria greeted him with a hello or a smile.  
………………………..  
That day Maria had stopped by the library to get some books about science since she had to prepare a class for her students, while she was trying to open the door of the building it suddenly opened, making her drop the books.  
“Sorry miss” said a voice and when she looked she realized that it was Legasov who bent down to help her  
“thank you” she blushed  
“How many books” he said  
“They are for a class that I have to give”  
“Let me help you” he opened the door so that she could pass “so you are a teacher”  
“Yes, I teach at fifth grade, that's why I have to think of an experiment that can catch their attention and make them stay calm for a few minutes”  
" Science is the most entertaining thing that exists ... well for me” he laughed  
“Are you a scientist? “asked Maria  
“I was” he sighed sadly “well I have to go bye”  
“See you later, Mr. Legasov “she said and while he was leaving she watched him, she knew he was not an ordinary man, if he was a scientist he was definitely more interesting than any of the neighbours who lived there.  
……………………………  
It was Sunday and Maria wanted to sleep as much as she could, she needed to rest to regain strength to face the energetic battalion of children that would await her on Monday morning. But she began to hear voices coming from the hallway of the building followed by two dry blows, so he decided to find out what was going on. She took the robe that lay at the foot of her bed and got up.  
On the threshold of the door was her mother and the next door neighbour, they both were looking horrified towards the end of the hall, Maria stuck her head and saw two policemen in front of the 3d department.  
“what happened?” she asked worried when she realized who lived there.  
“The weirdo friend of yours died” replied her mother.  
“What?” She answered she couldn’t believe it; she had seen him totally fine “what happened to him?”  
“We do not know, Yuri who lives upstairs went through the apartment to tell him that he had a leak and that the plumber would fix it, but he did not answer so he called the janitor to warn him, but he was not lucky either and as Legasov never leaves his apartment they called the police and they found him dead” answered the neighbour.  
“oh my god” she cried out  
“The janitor told us that he hung himself”  
One of the policemen approached them waving for them to enter to their apartment, then they saw two nurses carrying a stretcher with Legasov's body covered by a blanket. Seeing that scene, María could not contain her tears and began to cry, poor man, how much sadness he carried that had led him to take such an extreme decision.  
At that moment, while the policemen entered the department to collect some evidence, Legasov's cat came out and laid in the middle of the hall and started to groom himself, one of the policemen wanted to grab him, but Maria ran to do it first.  
“I will keep it” said Maria  
“as you wish” answered the officer   
Maria returned to her apartment and took out a glass bowl to give the cat some milk, while she was looking at him drinking she said : ": “Don't worry Boris will take care of you”


End file.
